Our Work
Our projects center around 4 research themes
Private land and community conservation
Maximizing landowner value of private properties
Exploring socio-ecological aspects of conservation
Ecosystem health
and population dynamics
Investigating drivers of population and ecosystem dynamics including disease, invasive species, and water quality
Barriers and
landscape
connectivity
Evaluating effects of fences, habitat fragmentation, human population growth, & anthropogenic development
Impacts of wildlife and conservation
Assessing the value of conservation actions and their effects
Quantifying & qualifying wildlife value
The Open Fence Project
The Open Fence Project is developing the first AI-powered large-scale fence database to transform landscape connectivity research, facilitate conservation planning, and promote policy-level changes.
Research Brief: How does land development affect migratory ungulates?
A new research brief shares what we’ve learned over the years about how migratory ungulates like elk, deer, and pronghorn respond to land development.
Upper Shoshone Mule Deer Video Collaring Project
This project is an effort to understand how we can use high quality video from collars attached to mule deer to quantify food selection, interaction with a human influenced landscape and the perils of migration across a mountainous landscape.
Developing new tools to de-risk wildlife occupancy on private lands
Along with our partners at the Property and Environment Research Center, we wrote a scientific paper to show conservation practitioners how important it is to consider both economic and risk management factors in wildlife conservation.
National Park Visitors as a Funding Source for Cross-boundary and Landscape-Scale Wildlife Conservation
We wanted to understand the importance of wildlife viewing to national park visitors and their potential as a funding source for cross-boundary conservation efforts.
Big Game and Roadway Mitigation Strategy – Highway 120 Meeteetse to Cody
A report that evaluates the needs and opportunities to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and improve roadway permeability for big game populations along Highway 120.
Supporting the Wyoming-USDA Big Game Pilot Program
This research is supporting the Pilot Program by surveying landowners in priority areas to understand their experiences with big game and interest in participating in different voluntary conservation efforts.
Convening: Cattle and Conservation– the future of virtual fencing
With our partners at the Property and Environment Research Center, we co-convened the first virtual fencing workshop of its kind, bringing together experts from technology, agriculture, government, and conservation to explore the latest advancements in the field and discuss how this innovative technology can support ranching and wildlife conservation.
Workshop: Wildlife movement and migration in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Alongside the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee, the Beyond Yellowstone Living Lab co-hosted a workshop to help increase awareness and effectiveness of unprecedented new opportunities to conserve lands important for migratory animals like pronghorn, deer, and elk.
How big game use and move through habitat between housing development
We are developing a novel metric to understand habitat around housing developments and then testing how elk, deer, and pronghorn respond to it – ultimately providing guidance for when the amount and configuration of houses results in significant loss of habitat.
Fence inventory along the Absaroka Front
The data from this fence mapping project will help the Absaroka Fence Initiative and management agencies improve rangeland and grazing management while ensuring wildlife can pass through.